"This may seem like something out of a science fiction movie: researchers have designed microparticles that can be injected directly into the bloodstream to quickly oxygenate your body, even if you can't breathe anymore. It's one of the best medical breakthroughs in recent years, and one that could save millions of lives every year.

The invention, developed by a team at Boston Children's Hospital, will allow medical teams to keep patients alive and well for 15 to 30 minute despite major respiratory failure. This is enough time for doctors and emergency personnel to act without risking a heart attack or permanent brain injuries in the patient.

The solution has already been successfully tested on animals under critical lung failure. When the doctors injected this liquid into the patient's veins, it restored oxygen in their blood to near-normal levels, granting them those precious additional minutes of life."

I think you two are being a bit too cynical. Of course the rich will be the first to benefit, just as they are from any new technology, but technology has a way of becoming democratized and widespread among all classes.

I have nothing but admiration for the team at the Boston Children's Hospital who developed this innovation. Well done!

Yes and a great example is the tritherapy which is so far the best way to treat AIDS. It has been around for what ? 10 years now and as everybody knows AIDS has almost disappeared from Africa thanks to the "democratization" of that treatment sold in African countries at a very cheap price ... OR NOT !

If anything you are not cynical enough when considering human nature and greed.
I have no admiration at all for that team who, let's face it, must be thinking about all the money they will be making off this new technology a little more than its actual benefits for all mankind.

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Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I think you two are being a bit too cynical. Of course the rich will be the first to benefit, just as they are from any new technology, but technology has a way of becoming democratized and widespread among all classes.

I have nothing but admiration for the team at the Boston Children's Hospital who developed this innovation. Well done!

wasn't there some news earlier about a cure for cancer found in a university? in fact, it's been floating around for a few years. i'm not sure whether it's true or not, but it's not been widely known because the drug companies wouldn't make any money off it.

my sister is a nurse, and she's quite cynical of hospitals and doctors. she highly doubts that our sister-in-law, who is pregnant, needs a c-section, but it's what the doctors are touting, because it earns them a neat profit than a normal birthing.

I think you two are being a bit too cynical. Of course the rich will be the first to benefit . . .

Boston Children's Hospital is a charity. The children of Boston will be the first to benefit.

Edited: The above was a little too flip. This has only been done so far in rabbits, and perhaps there is something special about rabbits that will prevent it working in people. But if it does work in people, it will be indeed be first used in top charity teaching hospitals which treat severe emergency patients regardless of ability to pay.

Boston Children's Hospital is a charity. The children of Boston will be the first to benefit.

Edited: The above was a little too flip. This has only been done so far in rabbits, and perhaps there is something special about rabbits that will prevent it working in people. But if it does work in people, it will be indeed be first used in top charity teaching hospitals which treat severe emergency patients regardless of ability to pay.

the name sounds so familiar, i thought my cousin works there. looked in fb and she works in cinncinati children's hospital. i assume this may be another charity hospital.

If this has a business value as It most likely does, I can absolutely assure you that your poor children will not benefit from it.
The only reason they could, would be that it has not been tested on humans yet and those poor kids would then be the perfect guinea pigs. After all you might want to be sure this is safe in humans before using it on paying customers ...

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Originally Posted by SteveEisenberg

Boston Children's Hospital is a charity. The children of Boston will be the first to benefit.

Edited: The above was a little too flip. This has only been done so far in rabbits, and perhaps there is something special about rabbits that will prevent it working in people. But if it does work in people, it will be indeed be first used in top charity teaching hospitals which treat severe emergency patients regardless of ability to pay.

If this has a business value as It most likely does, I can absolutely assure you that your poor children will not benefit from it.

In the US, that's illegal because of our Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act.* And, as a practical matter, when a patient shows up at the hospital (or enters an ambulance) who needs this, there is no time to do a credit check.

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The only reason they could, would be that it has not been tested on humans yet and those poor kids would then be the perfect guinea pigs.

On my evil days, I think that people who call experimental subjects guinea pigs should be barred from enjoying the benefits of their sacrifices.

As readers of medical history know, the first subjects will probably be the researchers themselves, but that won't help much because the effects on patients in pulmonary arrest will be different.

A big problem with testing this invention is that there usually, maybe always, would not be enough time to get informed consent to be an experimental subject. Someone somewhere must be worrying about this.

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After all you might want to be sure this is safe in humans before using it on paying customers ...

It's unlikely to be fully safe, if only because it is intended for patients in a very delicate state.

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* After your life is saved, you may be hounded by bill collectors, another feature of our medical system.